Admission

The amusing Admission is the first successful comedy of the year and a reasonable look at the admission process for an elite college--Princeton. Tina Fey as Portia and Paul Rudd as John turn in pleasant performances as an admissions executive and a progressive school teacher respectively. Rudd is amiable here and usually successful in his film career, while Fey's efforts up to now have been mediocre (Date Night, Baby Mama).

As an Alumni Admissions interviewer for over 30 years at Georgetown University, I find much of the story ringing true from the overachieving candidates nurtured by ambitious parents to the underachieving but brilliant and risky individualists. Portia must struggle with the boxed-in role of continuing the Princeton tradition (read stereotypes) or breaking away to push for a student who calls himself an "autodidact" with low grades but perfect scores on achievement tests for courses he never took.

Amid the plot's fierce applicant battle for a slot, Portia and John dance to the usual romantic formula of disliking each other to . . . Well, you know the drill. However, it's their reactions to the admission process that provide the authentic tension as he has developed students with independent minds, and she is used to the cookie-cutter candidates who lack the passion of those independents.

Director Paul Weitz knows something about family dynamics and children with his About a Boy, In Good Company, and Little Fockers among the more obvious examples. Signing up Lily Tomlin to play Portia's feminist mom was inspired; like the ubiquitous aging Alan Arkin, Tomlin should now have plenty of work.

Admission requires no small amount of sympathy for the messy business of growing up and getting ahead—Weitz navigates the vagaries of family ambition well. If the double-meaning of the title seems too precious to you, don't worry, the rest of the story is almost unambiguous.

Although Admission is mostly about applicants to an upper-tier college, it also poses the unethical means some might employ to gain entrance. Even Portia is not blameless, a touch I found in the film's favor while it deals with the unreal segment of our population smart enough to be considered for admission.

"You may have built schools in third world countries and cleaned contaminated water from villages but you have never tried to get a kid into Princeton." Portia Nathan (Fey) is an admission counselor for Princeton who is in line for a huge promotion. Everything is going her way until she travels to a new school to check out an applicant. While there she meets John Pressman (Rudd) with some interesting news about who she has come to see. Going in I was expecting nothing but hilariousness. Tiny Fey & Paul Rudd together how can you go wrong I thought. While I do have to say that I enjoyed the movie this was not nearly as funny as I was expecting. The movie had the feel of some of the new Judd Apatow movies, lot of heart but not as laugh-out-loud funny as I was going for. I'm not saying this isn't good, it is worth watching but don't go in like I did and expect nothing but wall to wall funny. Overall, a movie that I did like but wasn't as funny as I was thinking it was going to be. I give it a B.

Admission (2013)

The title is built around a pun which is the turning point of the movie—an admission, or at least a revelation, about a long lost child. The leading woman is the wonderful Tina Fey who I wish I could say was wonderful here. She plays an admissions official at Princeton, and lots of Ivy League clichés and would-be jokes parade by.

And that's the overview—a pre-packaged kind of routine film, not very imaginative to start with and never pushed or pulled the way a comedy, or a romance—or both!—ought to be.

Fey, it seems, wants to be a serious romantic leading actress, and she's chipper and cute and she could, with a much better script, pull off a kind of sympathetic Meg Ryan type. That's at least what I smell here. Her romantic partner, the sometimes very funny Paul Rudd, is again weighted down by having little to really make funny.

I'm not sure how a director like Paul Weitz keeps getting work. He has a whole series of disappointing movies, even a hand-me-down like "The Little Fokkers," and I'm sure some have made some money, but they would have been better (and made even more money) in better hands. The proof is in all this pudding.

On the surface you might think there are funny paths to take in "Admission," and maybe even some hilarious pratfalls (Fey's mom is more happily over the top and has some moments), but it's just a mildly enjoyable fizzle all the way. You won't walk away angry, just a little flat.

i actually do think that the film was more of a drama than a comedy. it was surely not the type of the film i expected before i watched it. Since it had Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, i surely expected the film to be either similar to Date Night or This is 40. But the film was quite different from those two in a good way. it was such a joy to see both of Fey and Rudd acting in a more drama- like comedy without all of the exaggerating acting. Although for me it did seem that Tina Fey's performance was a bit constrained it was still quite nice to see her portray a role which was just a normal person which we encounter every day around us. Paul Rudd also gave a quite lovely and warm performance in portraying his character. The film was not a crazy comedy full of jokes, but rather it was a decent more drama-like film which encouraged people to start taking responsibility for what they do and have done.

"Admission" was billed as a comedy, too bad it's not. Even when we're introduced to Portia (Tina Fey), I still couldn't figure out what type of comedy they were going for. There just doesn't seem to be any inherent comedy in the university admission process. But when Portia accidentally kisses high school director John (Paul Rudd), it finally becomes clear that this is in fact a romantic comedy, a dramatic romantic comedy.

The actors were definitely in their element. Tina Fey's Portia was the professionally-minded business woman who only kind of wanted it all. She wanted a promotion at work and to read poetry in bed with her British boyfriend Mark (Michael Sheen). I know what you're thinking, the perfect 30 Rock reunion. But, no. Mark is not Wesley Snipes, and their relationship isn't hilariously bad, just sad. But then Paul Rudd enters the picture incorporating the best of a country bumpkin and a privileged rich kid. He was irresistibly charming with that dimpled smile and those sparkling green eyes.

There is a plot. John introduces Portia to her son whom she put up for adoption and who now wants to attend Princeton. Portia has to figure out if she's ready to be a mother and if Jeremiah (Nat Wolff) should be accepted into Princeton. It's not a bad story, just not a particularly funny one. The characters are all good characters so they hold our interest despite the lack of substance to the movie.

The laughs are hard to come by, but if you're thinking in terms of a dramatic romantic comedy, then that shouldn't be too surprising. The lack of laughs is a detriment to the comedy this supposedly is. But as I said, the characters and actors are good. And if you really connect to Portia's predicament, then we have a nice little mid-life crisis turned coming-of-age flick. But that's going to be a small audience. The actors luckily have fans, and deservedly so, they have arguably never been better on the big screen. Depending on your love for Rudd and Fey, "Admission" is probably best left on the wait list.